SSA's Survey On Gender Disparity & Dropout Rates in Schools

Despite rapid economic growth, the explosion of micro-credit programs and self-help groups, and laudable efforts to increase women's political participation, gender disparities have remained deep and persistent in India. The UN Gender Inequality Index has ranked India below several sub-Saharan African countries. Gender disparities are even more pronounced in economic participation and women's business conditions in India.

The Surva Shiksha Abihyan (SSA) which recently held a survey on the Gender Disparity and Drop out rates in India has revealed the record which explains that in a typical Indian family, the son almost always gets special interest and care. According to the status of education in India it also highlights that parents prefer to send their sons to Private schools where as the girl is sent to Government schools.

In recent years, Karnataka claims to have achieved a healthy gender parity in school enrollment, much better than the national average, says the latest SSA survey 'Education in Karnataka State- A State Level District Wise Analytical Report'.

It is believed that Private Schools offer better education at a higher cost. This is said to be the main reason why most of the parents admit their sons in a private school whereas due to lack of equality and importance the girl child is sent to local Government Schools.

The report says "A comparison of gender parity in enrollments in the government sector schools, as against private unaided schools, clearly reveals the phenomenon of preference to sons for household investments in choice of schooling in the state".

The District-Wise gender parity in Enrollments in both Lower Primary and Higher Primary schools is as follows.

District

Govt-Aided

Unaided

LOWER PRIMARY SCHOOL

Bijapur

97

66

Yadgir

94

66

Belgaum

102

68

Raichur

100

70

Bidar

105

69

Bellary

104

72

Bagalkot

101

69

HIGHER PRIMARY SCHOOL

Yadgir

82

63

Bijapur

95

59

Belgaum

97

65

Bagalkot

99

66

Bidar

105

69

It is found that the trend to shun government schools when it comes to enrolling boys is more pronounced in the state-level figures. In lower primary government schools, there are 101 girls for every 100 boys. But in private schools, the number comes down to 79. In higher primary, there are 99 girls for every 100 boys. And in unaided schools the number is said to be 79.

This trend is uniformly observed across the state, in both lower and higher primary schools.

Dropout Rate

After Class 7, one in every five students drops out of school. Though the state is marching ahead in terms of enrollment of children in Primary schools, the bigger concern is for those children who are lost during their transition from one class to another.

The report also points out that one of every five children who would have started going to class 7 in 2009-10 session has not reached the 2012-13 batch for class 10 in the state. This proves that the transition loss is about 20% across the state.

Indicator

Primary

Higher Primary

Access Ratio

100

100

Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER)

106.81

105.66

Net Enrollment Ratio (NER)

97.69

94.83

Dropout Ratio of Children

2.56

5.40

OUT OF SCHOOL Children Aged 7-14 years

51994

Never Enrolled

4,330

Dropouts

47,664

The transition loss of children moving from class 7 to class 8 in 20123-13 was a whopping 57,130. Out of these 32,642 were girls. The total number of out-of-school children stands at 51,994. Out of these, 4,330 have never been enrolled.